Kesko Celebrates Anniversary Of 'Pirkka Essi' Bag Launch

Finnish retailer Kesko has celebrated the one year anniversary of the introduction of Pirkka Essi 'circular recycled' bags to its stores.

The bags are made from 90% recycled materials, half of which is collected from households, and provide customers with an alternative to disposable plastic bags. The company says that this process is a good example of circular economy in action.

“Grocery stores in particular are important to the market success of circular products,” said Timo Jäske, sustainability manager for K-Group’s grocery trade. ”K-Group is keen to explore and introduce new sustainable alternatives that customers could easily adopt. Pirkka Essi circular bag is a great example of this.”

K-group, which is formed by Kesko and the K-stores, has said it is committed to the EU target of reducing the number of plastic bags used annually per person to 40 by 2025.

Plastic Alternatives

In addition to Pirkka Essi bags, the retailer also provides reusable bags, cotton bags, jute bags and paper bags. Customer channels and in-store communications have also been employed to raise awareness among customers about the environmental impact of plastic waste, according to Kesko.

An estimated 70,000 tonnes of plastic is used annually for consumer packaging in Finland.

The Essi circular bags are manufactured by Amerplast in Fortum’s circular economy village in Riihimäki, Finland. The plastic refinery takes in waste plastic, including separately collected household packaging waste, and sorts and processes the plastics into top-quality secondary raw materials, the retailer said.

“ESSI carrier bags are an excellent example of the circular economy in action. They also demonstrate the kind of joint effort needed – from the industry and traders but also from Finns who separate and recycle their used plastic packaging and take home their groceries in Essi bags”, said Børge Kvamme, CEO of Amerplast.